¹⁹ So the king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” And the woman answered and said, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me, and ^(A)he put all these words in the mouth of your maidservant.

³ Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” So Joab ^(A)put the words in her mouth.

²⁶ And she said, “O my lord! ^(A)As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the Lord.

¹⁵ for I will give you a mouth and wisdom ^(A)which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or ^[a]resist.

² Then Elijah said to Elisha, ^(A)“Stay here, please, for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and ^(B)as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.

⁵ “Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah ^(A)did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to ^(B)Abner the son of Ner and ^(C)Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. And he shed the blood of war in peacetime, and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. ⁶ Therefore do ^(D)according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.

¹⁴ In the morning it happened that David ^(A)wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the ^[a]hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may ^(B)be struck down and die.”

¹¹ And Uriah said to David, ^(A)“The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and ^(B)my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”

Then all the people wept over him again.